captain_slinky: (Default)
captain_slinky ([personal profile] captain_slinky) wrote2009-05-05 08:53 am

Judd(ith) Apatow?

In case you don't know, Judd Apatow is the writer/director/producer/actor associated with such legendary films as "Forgetting Sarah Marshal", "Superbad", "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Knocked Up" and "Pineapple Express" (among many, MANY others).

In any Apatowverse movie you can be sure to see at least one recurring theme; The fat, crude, scruffy, weird-looking stoner-loser guy with a weird job will always end up with a smoking hot babe. This formula has done Mr. Apatow very, very well.

But what I've been wondering today is if a similar formula would work for a Female version of Judd? The world needs a "Judith Apatow" to make films about fat crude scruffy loser chicks who some how end up with stunningly handsome men!

I think the biggest thing that stands in the way of such a film is attitude. All the Judd Apatow flicks have a good amount of self-deprecating humor; they're kind of a celebration of everything that makes these guys such losers. "Chick Flicks" always have to be about EMPOWERMENT and OVERCOMING and could never ever say anything bad about womankind in any way unless it had a ton of redemption and salvation in it that results in the woman being stronger and better in the end than she was in the beginning through a long journey of self-discovery. And if it doesn't follow those rules, then it's most likely going to be a movie about how air-headed the women are or how slutty they are.

How about a movie where the funny-but-chunky girl who everybody in the office likes (and LORD KNOWS I've worked with a lot of those girls) ends up going on a date with a "Hunky Guy" AND SHE DOESN'T INSTANTLY DREAM ABOUT GETTING MARRIED TO HIM. She's her regular, charming self and he becomes enamored with her. he of course thinks that HE could never date her but he feels like he HAS to hook her up with SOMEBODY because she's such a great gal, so he sends her on a series of wacky blind dates with his buddies that eventually make the "Hunky Guy" realize that none of them are right for her because HE wants her.

She doesn't change for him. She doesn't pine away for him. She doesn't learn a valuable lesson. She doesn't even have a super-gay friend who gives her a series of hilarious make-overs to try and get the "Hunky Guy" to notice her. She's just a great, funny, likeable girl that the "Hunky Guy" realizes is just right for him.

I'd pay to see that movie.

[identity profile] cutenessfact0r.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh.. I'd watch that too ^_^ Kind of like Ugly Betty but her actually ending up with a cute hot guy ^_^

[identity profile] captain-slinky.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 04:44 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't watched any of the Third Season yet, but I thought that her nerdy accountant boyfriend was EXTREMELY hot!

[identity profile] teh-dirty-robot.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 04:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Fat crude scruffy dudes ending up with smoking hot chicks is not just Apatow's formula, but pretty much the norm across movies AND television. King of Queens, Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Drew Carey Show, and so on and so forth. There are comparatively few roles where heavy women even make the cast, much less a lead role. Roseanne--but she had an equally fat husband. The Parkers--but Mo'Nique keeps chasing after a man who doesn't want her.

I'd definitely pay to see a movie like that, I KNOW there are funny scruffy crude self-deprecating heavy women out there (fuck, I am one), but I think it has a lot to do with who signs the checks. They don't want to pay to see fat women do *anything*. Fat on women is treated differently by the majority of society then fat on men. Fat men are funny. Fat women are gross. If a man hooks up with a fat chick in a movie, it's for comic relief, it's 'disgusting'. If a fat man hooks up with a smoking hot chick, well, that's the natural order.

I tried for a while to break into stand-up comedy. Granted, I might not have been the funniest (a comic is never the best judge of their own jokes), but it's interesting how *I* was recieved versus a comic dude of similar size. On youtube, they'd talk about how his jokes were not funny. They'd slam my looks instead, because as a woman, apparently my looks are supposed to be the most worthwhile thing about me.

/rant

[identity profile] jillchristina.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Both of your observations about fat women and movies/society are interesting and, sadly, right on. It's scary for me as a woman (and an overweight one at that) to be raising two girls in this world. I hope and pray that their dad and I can have enough of a positive influence over them that their weight won't ever be in the top ten most concerning issues for them. I want them to be healthy but never obsessed about what they look like. Sorry for the tangent there...

And I agree, Brian, I'd so pay to see the movie where the scruffy, fat girl gets the hot guy.

[identity profile] kmarier.livejournal.com 2009-05-05 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I for one would love to see a film like that. A film where the main character is interesting not because of what happens to her (or is done to her) but who is genuinely interesting in and of herself...sort of like JMS' women characters (they just came to mind as I was writing this) Great idea!